Spore Daraffus
by Jon Berkley
Summary: A description of the band of pirates, smugglers, mercenaries and other scum under the name of the Daraffus that roam the wild deserts of their home planets of Xa and inhabit small hideouts of various planets.


The Daraffus are a small band of drifters, treasure hunters, smugglers, and pirates. They all originate from the desert world of Xa in the inner galaxy, pretty close to the Grox. Xa is a hostile planet filled with deserts and only a few seas. In comparison the average T3 planet which most species have as home planets has 70-80% of water as surface while Xa only has 25% of water as surface. As of this the Daraffus are used to high temperatures and are expert survivalists. They are long thin, reptilian creatures. They are most of the day wrapped in pieces of cloth as to protect them from the nearly deadly rays of the sun. A Daraffus of normal durability can walk around in the sun without protective clothing for about 20 minutes before dying of overheating. Other species, which aren't adjusted to the environment of Xa succumb within five minutes.

The Daraffus reached space stage pretty late because they had a lot of trouble developing on Xa. They are now spread out over the majority of planets within 50 parsecs of Xa. Only 20% of the Daraffus now only live on Xa, the rest having immigrated. They possess no colonies at all, but mostly settle with small bases and hideouts on the hotter planets.

The Daraffus don't have a real economy and most earn their sporebucks independently. Most earn their money by looking for ancient artifacts on abandoned planets but do not fear to ''extract'' other artifacts from inhabited planets. The Daraffus mostly raid small colonies, stealing spice, robbing colonists and stealing sporebucks. Even though they don't have a good reputation in the rest of the galaxy, Daraffus mercenaries are loyal fighters and good pilots.

The Daraffus try to avoid big conflicts with especially warrior- and knight empires. They mostly try to raid small colonies and rarely venture onto home planets, except on a smuggling run. Because of bigger pirate clans and even empires that pose a bigger threat, the Daraffus are only considered to be a minor nuisance. Only a few major attacks on Xa have been launched by empires and have all failed. The reason for this is because Daraffus are great pilots and good warriors.

The Daraffus will never gain the technological or the numerical edge in a battle, but make up for this by having some of the best pilots in the Spore Galaxy and having ships of great quality. Their space ships are made out of a mineral unknown in the rest of the galaxy and kept secret by the Daraffus. And with reason The best example of the pilot's skills is the Battle At Rayt, where ten fighters of the Daraffus held of 2000 fighters of various empires. The ten heroes who fought the battle destroyed more than 80% of the enemy fleet before succumbing themselves. The majority of the Daraffus had abandoned the base and the planet while the ten fighters were fighting. Since that battle most empires tend to leave the Daraffus alone.

The Daraffus have been created with the planet Xa itself not too long ago. There are records, made by other empires in the Tribal era, of a clearly visible explosion which could be the creation of Xa and it's inhabitants. The Daraffus are herbivorous in origin and are still used to this diet although a lot of them also eat flesh and fish.

One of the main phenomenons on Xa is a large mountain, sticking all the way up into space. Nobody knows where this big piece of rock came from and scientists that the Daraffus allowed to research the rock have no clue about what it is or what it is made of. This mountain has attracted many scientists and tourists from all over the galaxy, who are greeted with hostility a minority of the Daraffus. Most just don't really care about all those aliens.

The Daraffus haven't had one leader uniting all small bands and groups of Daraffus. The last leader was Ex-Losf, a treasure hunter and excellent pilot. Ex-Losf died during the Battle At Rayt, single handed taking out 1000 fighters before being shot down, being captured and executed on Balen, the home planet of the Wealsh (see future installments of my Spore-stories). Ex-Losf is hailed as a big hero by the Daraffus but is only moderately known throughout the Galaxy. He is especially popular under aspiring pilots and mercenaries.

The ''cities'' of the Daraffus are mostly only small villages, the capital of Ragh being the only real city. Most houses are simple white stone constructions with wooden roofs and simple furnishing. The town centre only contains a water well and sometimes in the bigger villages, a market.

Most Daraffus long on Xa are the ones that long for a peaceful life in the desert and are not to be held accountable for the actions of the others, for example the pirate bands.

The wildlife is very special on Xa. There is none. There is only one shrub-like plant on Xa called Drys. This plant almost looks like a dead shrub and is frequently dried and smoked by the Daraffus. If the plant gets smoked, the smoker will get a nice feeling in their lower stomach and will feel happy for a long period. The drug possesses almost no negative side effects and is almost not addictive.

The Daraffus empire is almost completely isolated from any kind of empires, the nearest being the Grox at 18,7 parsecs away. The Daraffus have not allied themselves with the Grox but have done some small jobs for them, like collecting plants and animals or searching for artifacts and abducting species from sentient planets in civilizational era's.

The only other empire around is the Styt Empire, a group of scientists with only three small T1 planets, because a warrior empire has captured their home planet of Brixxellius. The Styt have now retreated to their remaining three colonies and are developing special weapons to strike back at the warrior empire and rid the galaxy of them for once and all. The Daraffus and the Styt are not really allied but help each other on a regular basis. The Daraffus salvage powerful artifacts and ancient technology for the Styt and they, in return, supply the Daraffus with technology and weapons for their ships.

The Daraffus do not believe in general do not believe in any kind of god or creationist. They don't know what or who and how created the universe, but they don't really care a lot.

At the moment the Daraffus find that they are doing well and that it is all going great. Xa is still the same old desert and the pirates raid the same simple colonies. Let's hope that they'll stay happy like that.

**Please Review! All feedback is appreciated. Please try not to curse...**


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